Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE
I keep saying that it’s the preseason and these results don’t matter because they don’t. The Lakers were without both Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard for the preview of this year’s edition of Battle: Los Angeles. So taking another L seemed all but inevitable.
That the Lakers lost 97-91 isn’t shocking. What’s concerning is the continued trend of careless turnovers. 21 of them in all on the evening. No way can you tell me that wasn’t crucial in a meaningless six-point loss to the Clippers.
What else is concerning is the continued inability of the Lake Show to defend quick lead guards. Did I mention the Clippers were without Chris Paul? But who need CP3 when Eric Bledsoe messes around and darn near gets a triple-double.
Bledsoe ran the show in CP3 fashion scoring 22, handing out 11 dimes and putting a large dent in all those Lake Show turnovers with 9 steals. That’s a sick line no matter the nature of the competition.
Luckily for the Lakers this 0-7 start to the preseason will be soon forgotten. Especially if it goes to 0-8 tomorrow night in San Diego.
But we’re not worried about results just yet. What matters is the team coming together while learning the new offense. Tonight there were plenty of bright spots.
Steve Nash dropped a few of those perfect dimes setting the table for Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace and impressive rookie Rob Sacre. Nights like this you’d like to see Nash take more than 4 shots but 7 assists in 24 minutes is a good night of work for sure.
Even Jodie Meeks looked a lot more comfortable running with the first team. That could be very important if KB24 is a no-go for the opener (knocking on wood as I type).
The real spark was the energy Jordan Hill provided in his first action since the herniated disk. Those 12 points and 8 boards were the good news. The bad news is Hill left the game a little early as he was seen holding his back. Hopefully it’s not a setback ahead of the preseason finale (still knocking on wood as I write).
Yes, these results don’t matter but the bad habits are what counts. All the careless mistakes add up and can carry over to the regular season if the sloppy play becomes routine. The Lakers have one last tune up before the start of the regular season. They might not get a win going into the opening tip but they’d better get a grip on the rock. Turnovers will doom any team no matter the talent on the roster.